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The news this week that JBS, one of the largest meat processors was hacked was being subject to a ransomware attack has generated many questions about both the availability and price of beef and pork. JBS is a big player in meat processing representing 25% of the US beef processing and 20% of US pork processing. JBS has a large beef plant in Alberta. The attack has closed many plants in the US, Canada, and Australia. It appears as though the issue has been brought under co

Nicholas Bannon, Alfons Weersink, and Michael von Massow At the beginning of June, a Food Focus blog post spoke about the significant disruptions felt throughout the Canadian beef sector stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The culprit was a widespread outbreak at Cargill’s High River, Alberta, facility which happens to be the largest beef processing plant in Canada. This outbreak saw a two-week period in April and May where the weekly number of cattle processed in Canadian f

Written by Nicholas Bannon The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions that have rippled through Canada’s beef sector, but it appears that a complete disaster scenario has been avoided, as the industry rebounds and beef production rises. This rebound follows the reopening of the Cargill meat processing plant in High River, Alberta, after a temporary closure of the plant due to a COVID-19 outbreak saw more than 900 employees become infected with the virus. When the Cargill